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Top Ten TED Talks

I am a great fan of TED Talks and thought I would take the time to list the top ten talks I have heard and why I like them.

1 The Danger of a Single Story by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie

One of the best TED Talks I have heard to date. Chimanda deals with stereotypes in an honest, open way. It would be easy for her to spend the whole talk complaining about how ignorant western people are of Africa, however she put herself in the shoes of those who are ignorant, then confesses to her very own ignorance. This inspired me so much that I wrote a poem after hearing it.

2 The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown

This is the only TED Talk I have heard where the speaker actually admits they hate the subject they are talking about. With great humour and authenticity Brené Brown explores the difficult subject of vulnerability. She explains how studying the subject caused her to realise she had a problem with being vulnerable, and went to see a theorist to help her deal with the issues she had.

3 Listening to Shame by Brené Brown

In a way this is a sequel to The Power of Vulnerability talk. Brené Brown starts off by explaining how she felt after giving her previous TED Talk. Then goes on to talk about shame and how it is different for men and women.

4 The Laws That Sex Workers Really Want by Toni Mac

Here the global laws for sex workers and sex trafficking are explored in this talk. Toni Mac also reveals the reasons why people end up working in this industry. Want to know my views on prostitution? Well listen to this talk: I agree with everything Toni says.

5 Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator by Tim Urban

This talk showed me that deadlines are good, for they get procrastinators (like me) to get things done, however the trouble is when those things do not have deadlines. Tim Urban also shows that we all procrastinate, we just procrastinate on different things. If you do not think you are a procrastinator I challenge you to listen to this, and then still think you do not procrastinate.

6 The Surprising Habits of Orginal Thinkers by Adam Grant

As you can see from the title, this particular TED Talk is about orginal thinkers. But there is a connection between this and the Tim Urban talk, since Adam Grant spends the first half of it talking about how moderately procastornating makes someone more creative in their work. In the second half he talks about how orginal thinkers deal with fear and doubt.

7 My Escape from North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee

Hyeonseo Lee begins her talk by saying, “When I was young I thought my country was the best on the planet”. She then tells of how her thoughts eventually changed when North Korea was hit with a famine in the 90s, which led her to escape to China and eventually to South Korea. This is definitely an interesting watch.

8 This is What Happens When You Reply to Spam Email by James Veitch

In the funniest TED Talks I have ever heard James Veitch tells us what happened when he started replying to spam emails.

9 How to Make Stress Your Friend by Kelly McGonigal

For years Kelly McGonigal had told people that stress was bad for them, but that changed when she came across a study that showed stress was not entirely a bad thing. Here she reveals that being stressed can be beneficial, it all depends how you approach stressful situations.

10 When Online Shaming Spirals Out of Control by Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson thought Twitter was a great tool at first but that was before he met those who had been shamed on social media. In this talk he goes through one case of public shaming and reveals the effects it had on this particular individual. It shows that a silly mistake on Twitter or Facebook can be devastating and we are encouraged to be bold and stand up for those who are being attacked online.